Plan Your Trip Times Picks

Hopscotching Around Asheville

Published: April 6, 1997

(Page 3 of 3)

The next day, there was time for a last hurrah before the long drive to the airport in Greensboro. We headed northeast to Table Rock Mountain, the other-worldly setting for the concluding scene in ''The Last of the Mohicans.'' After urging the Corsica 13 miles on a mercilessly winding gravel road, we parked and hiked 45 extremely vertical minutes to the summit, past rare mountain heather and Table Mountain pines (their bristles require fire to germinate). Our last overview of the region was a mountain panorama bathed in golden sun.

The tedium of the flight home was relieved by a satisfying realization: that only by stumbling around the North Carolina highlands had we been able to make any sense of the area. We knew now that four distinct tourist regions had presented themselves: Asheville itself, and the fascinations of Biltmore; the Flat Rock area to the south; the Great Smokies to the west, and the Appalachian high country to the northeast. We'd cherry-picked them all.

Next time we'll spend a week in each region. Just as the guidebooks had suggested -- had we only been able to comprehend them.

Undercurrent Restaurant, 600 South Elm Street, Greensboro, N.C. 27406; (910) 370-1266, is a two-year-old restaurant on an unassuming old street where the changing menu currently offers main courses such as veal flank steak roulade, with grilled eggplant, sauteed onions and oven-cured tomatoes, and sourdough- and mustard-crusted baked Atlantic salmon over wilted Asian greens. Dinner only, Tuesday to Saturday; about $80 for two, including a bottle of wine.

Photos: Tulips in the walled garden at the Biltmore Estate. (The Biltmore Company); The swinging bridge at Grandfather Mountain. Heading out on the Appalachian Trail near the main road that cuts through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (Duane Hall for The New York Times); The boarders' dining room, Thomas Wolfe Memorial. (North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources) (pg. 13); The clutter of commerce in Cherokee, N.C. (Duane Hall for The New York Times) (pg. 14) Map of North Carolina showing the location of Asheville. (pg. 13)